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Level-5 To Open New Santa Monica Studio In September

Square-Enix has a new office in Los Angeles and another Japanese developer is following suit in an endeavor to expand Westward.

It's Level-5, best known for the Dragon Quest, Professor Layton and White Knight Chronicles franchises. According to Siliconera, the developer plans to open an office in Santa Monica, California in September. It will be known as Level-5 International America and their expansion won't end there; they also intend to move into Europe some time next year. CEO Akihiro Hino has said these expansions are designed around the concept of releasing games overseas, which of course translates to more localization staff and (presumably) lesser delays is that area of production. White Knight Chronicles took over a year for it to go from Japan to North America, and let's not forget that White Knight Chronicles 2 is scheduled to release in Japan next month. With this new studio, US gamers should definitely look to the future with an expectant eye; Level-5 creations should indeed hit store shelves a bit earlier than usual in this neck of the woods.

We're also very interested to see how WKC2 comes out...we're one of the few who really liked the original, and the team has plenty of enhancements featured in the sequel.